CLARKSVILLE — Johnson County Sheriff Jimmy Dorney announced his office will provide rides for people too drunk to drive and "amnesty" for anyone with an outstanding misdemeanor warrant who reports to police in the month of December.

"It's better to spend the holidays with your families than locked up with strangers," a release from Dorney's office stated.

Under the "amnesty program," which Dorney said began in 2007, anyone with a warrant can pay 10 percent of the warrant's bond and be released and assigned a court date. Normally, someone arrested for an outstanding warrant would have to post the full amount of the bond or hire a bail bondsman to be released.

Dorney said the "amnesty program" is offered all year, but he encourages its use during the holiday season.

The department's safe ride program, now in its fourth year, is available to all Johnson County residents and will continue until 3 a.m. on New Year's Day. Dorney estimated his deputies provided rides for approximately 20 local residents in the program's first three years.

"Unfortunately, folks still don't trust us," Dorney said Tuesday.

Arkansas State Police said Monday that a third of the state's traffic fatalities last year were related to alcohol, accounting for 190 deaths.

Dorney's office said deputies will not transport residents to a party or club.

"If you take advantage of this program and a deputy shows up to get you, don't start cursing and yelling at him/her, screaming that it's a trick and show out (sic)," the release from Dorney's office stated. "If you do that, it's a quick trip to jail."